1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to containers for shipping electronics parts such as microchips and the like, from a point of manufacture to a point of assembly into larger, more complex devices such as computers and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to container arrangement which is provided with its own on-board pump which can partially evacuate the interior of the container and maintain the contents in a suitable sub-atmospheric desiccated condition during transportation to and/or storage.
2. Related Art
Efforts have been made to provide evacuated containers suitable for transport of perishable items. Examples of such containers are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,987 issued on Mar. 16, 1976 in the name of Rossi and U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,211 issued on Aug. 31, 1999 in the name of Woodnorth et al. These arrangements while permitting the interiors to be partially evacuated and to have relief valves via which the negative pressure can be selectively relived, have suffered from the shortcomings that they are not internally padded and nor provided with any means of maintaining a supply of clean dry air on board so that selective pressure relief can be made via the supply of clean dry air. More specifically, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,987 is directed to a recloseable or reusable container having an air-tight closure seal and an attached means to allow the creation of a partial vacuum in the container after reclosing thereof with perishable contents inside. This container includes a replaceable closure member capable of forming an airtight seal with a body portion of the container. An evacuation valve is provided on the closure member or another accessible part of the container allowing the partial removal of air trapped therein after closing the container. A separate manually operated valve is also provided to relieve the vacuum to facilitate reopening of the container.
On the other hand, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,211 issued on Aug. 31, 1999 in the name of Woodnorth et al., is such as to include a container system having a one-piece, one-way valve. The container can be evacuated by pressing the lid, thereby forcing air out through the one-way valve. The one-way valve prevents air from entering the container system however includes an interface or release which allows air to enter the container system when the interface is pressed.
Neither of these arrangements, however, have been able to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry wherein it is necessary to pack and ship chips and the like type of devices items with a high degree of safety against damage such as tends to occur if the container is dropped any distance onto a hard surface, and the like.